Field
Embodiments described herein generally relate to magnetoresistive devices and methods for manufacturing the same, including magnetoresistive sensors and methods of manufacturing such sensors.
Related Art
Magnetoresistive devices may be based on one or more magnetoresistive technologies—including, for example, tunnel magnetoresistive (TMR), giant magnetoresistive (GMR), anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR), and/or one or more other magnetoresistive technologies as would be understood by those skilled in the relevant art(s)—that may collectively be referred to as xMR technologies. The magnetoresistive technologies can be configured using various electrical contact configurations, for example, a current in plane (CIP) configuration or a current perpendicular to plane (CPP) configuration. In the CIP configuration, current flows parallel to the layer system of the magnetoresistive device between electrical contacts disposed on a same side of the device, whereas in the CPP configuration, current flows perpendicular to the layer system between electrical contacts disposed on opposing sides of the device.
The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.